Manchukuo is a minor nation in northern Asia and a puppet of Japan. Manchukuo starts with negligible industry and limited resources but has a respectable population of 35.35 million in both start dates. Manchukuo is an interesting Chinese nation in that it is ruled by Aisin Gioro Puyi, the former emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the last emperor of China, and has a national focus tree devoted to carrying out Puyi's ambition: retaking the Dragon Throne which was wrongfully taken from him in 1911, by conquering all of China and restoring the fallen Qing Empire.

The Empire of Manchukuo, or The State of Manchuria, was a subject of the Japanese Empire from 1932-1945. It was established as a Japanese puppet state after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria following the Mukden Incident, with the former Chinese Qing emperor Puyi (also called Xuantong or the Xuantong Emperor) established as its leader, reigning as the Kangde Emperor. Although de jure independent, Manchukuo saw little diplomatic recognition from states outside of those influenced or controlled by the Axis powers (with the Soviet Union being the most notable exception, extending recognition as part of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact), and was de facto a Japanese puppet state throughout its existence. Manchukuo was dissolved after Japan's capitulation in World War II, alongside all other Japanese puppet states.

We are engaged in low-intensity warfare with partisans, defectors and republican terrorists. We should focus on pacifying the countryside in order to hunt these bandits down.

Kwantung Veto

Political Advisor Cost: +25%

Trade Laws cost: +25%

Mobilization Laws cost: +25%

Economy cost: +25%

After the 1905 seizure of Dalian from Russia, the Kwantung (Kantō in Japanese) garrison placed there became politicized, with expansionist generals taking the initiative in seizing more land for Japan. This culminated in the Mukden Incident in 1932, when the Empire of Manchukuo was carved out of the petty warlords of the north-east. The Kwantung Army continues to dominate the area and places the interests of their generals above the needs of Manchukuo.
We will only resolve this by getting the Japanese army to recognize us as equals, or by throwing them out by force.

Low Legitimacy

Stability: -50%

War Support: -50%

Emperor Puyi is the legitimate descendent of the Qing emperors who ruled China for three hundred years. The Xinhai Revolution which deposed him in 1911 was very popular, as the late Qing government was powerless against both the foreigners stealing Chinese land and the regional governors establishing themselves as warlords. Emperor Puyi's installation as Emperor of Manchukuo is not yet accepted by the Manchurian populace, let alone the rest of China.
We will have to establish the Emperor's independence from Japan to rally the nation under him.

During the 1936 and the 1939 start dates, Manchukuo is a puppet of Japan. With Together for Victory enabled, it is an integrated puppet, and with Death or Dishonor enabled, it is a Reichskommissariat. With Waking the Tiger enabled, it is an Imperial Protectorate.

Other than Japan, only Mengkukuo, another puppet of Japan, neighbors and is allied with Manchukuo.

This section may contain outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version of the game. The last version it was verified as up to date for was 1.4.

Factories 1936

1 Military Factory

0 Naval Dockyards

1 Civilian Factory

Factories 1939

2 Military Factories

3 Naval Dockyards

1 Civilian Factory

Manchukuo has a weak industry in both scenarios, and players should prioritize building up both types of factories, since both Integrated Puppets and Reichskommisariats have to provide a percentage of their factories to their overlords, as well as providing Civilian Goods like any other country. Players may not need to build their navy as their overlord Japan (especially if it's being controlled by a player) already starts with a powerful one.

Manchukuo's only natural resources are steel and aluminium, and there is not a whole lot of either resource available, at only 38 and 10 units respectively. That is enough to support production of Basic Infantry Equipment and Infantry Equipment I, as well as some Support Equipment and planes, but anything else will require foreign trade to be effective. Japan will also usually trade for large amounts of steel and especially aluminium, which they themselves have a shortage of, while only providing minimum Civilian Factories since Manchukuo is an Integrated Puppet/Reichskommisariat. This does, however, mean that the Manchukuo WILL get at least one civilian factory from its exports.

This section may contain outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version of the game. The last version it was verified as up to date for was 1.4.

Manchukuo starts with a very small military in Asia and will have to rely on Japan for their war against China unless the player is able to rapidly industrialize Manchukuo and build up a sizable military force.

Manchukuo in 1936 finds itself in a rather precarious situation as, being that the country was initially founded in 1931 and has therefore only existed for 5 years, many people still see Manchukuo as an artifical construct with little legitimacy and therefore commands little support from its population. In-game, this is represented by Manchukuo starting off with the National Spirit Low Legitimitacy, granting them an abysmal stability of 2% and a war support of 0%, the lowest of any nation in the game.

Not only that, but if Puyi wishes to have a future that does not involve being at the mercy of the Japanese, he will have to prove his divine right to the Mandate of Heaven by throwing off the Japanese yoke, deposing the Nationalist government in Nanjing, crushing the Communists in Yan'an and subduing the Warlords across China before proclaiming the restoration of the Qing Dynasty that is his birthright.

That is a very ambitious goal to be aiming for, but if Puyi can pull it off, future Chinese historians will probably come to write of him as "the emperor that restored unity to China in its darkest hour" for years to come.

Glorious though it may be, the path to victory for Puyi, and by extension, Manchukuo, is littered with challenges and hardships to overcome in order to prove his right to the throne, the first of which Manchukuo has to deal right from the start is the problem with Banditry. As long as this problem persists, outlaws, criminals and communist partisans will periodically launch raids against state property, causing damage to factories, infrastructure and the like, which can pose a major problem considering that Manchukuo's starting industrial base is very limited to begin with. Taking the national focus Pacify the Countryside will unlock a set of decisions that allows Manchukuo to either hunt down or pacify the bandits. If Manchukuo elects to pacify the bandits, they will have to station enough units in the chosen province and maintain control for 180 days to neutralize the bandits. This is slower but unlocks a set of decisions to recruit the bandits into the army afterward. If Manchukuo on the other hand, decides to hunt down the bandits, they just need to take the decision (which will cost 500 Infantry Equipment and 1000 Manpower) which will remove the bandits instantly, although this will prevent you from recruiting them later.

After that the country has been reasonably stabilized, Manchukuo can get on with the business if building up a proper industrial base as they sorely need one if they wish to restore the Qing Dynasty. Successfully rooting out the bandits will allow Manchukuo to take the National Focuses Invite Japanese Settlers and Collective Farms which will both add more Population, Building Slots and Civilian Factories to Macnhkuo, something they sorely lack. These can be coupled with the National Focuses Expand the Textile Industry and Invite Foreign Investors along with manual construction to build up a satisfactory industrial base.
While this is all ongoing, it is also worth keeping an eye on what Japan is up to in terms of National Focuses. One branch of their National Focus tree; specifically, The Manchurian Project and all Focuses after it, allow Japan to improve the industrial base of Manchukuo, so it might just be wise to stay loyal and obedient until Japan has managed to complete all focuses in The Manchurian Project branch as Manchukuo has nothing else but benefits to gain from them.

In order to start down the path to reforming the Qing Dynasty, the National Focus Assertiveness must be taken. This will unlock a series of National Focuses that will allow Manchukuo to gradually become more autonomous under Japan, with the ultimate goal of declaring independence from them.

But Imperial Japan is not going to surrender control over their Manchurian possessions peacefully, and with that in mind, an expansion of the Imperial Army will be necessary, as once Manchukuo declares independence, this will start a war of independence with Japan, which can be expected to have fielded as many as around 100-150 divisions, ready to subjugate its rebellious subject. In addition to that, in order to restore the Qing Dynasty, Manchukuo will have to depose Nationalist China, which can be expected to have somewhere around 70-120 divisions, and will also not give up without a fight. As such, Manchukuo will have to expand its military in order to stand a chance against its opponents. Since Manchukuo does not have the manpower of its main enemies, they will likely have to focus on quality over quantity in terms of land units.

Infantry is cheap and easy to produce but it pays greatly to also introduce specialized units to augment the army's fighting capability. Cavalry units can be of notable use as they are 1.6 times as fast as regular infantry at the cost of only being slightly more expensive in terms of supply use and equipment, which can make them useful as cheap rapid-response units to intercept and delay enemy units while other units make their way over to assist in the defense.

Artillery is a very valuable addition to Manchukuo's arsenal as Nationalist China usually employs only Infantry along with some occasional Cavalry units so artillery can allow Manchukuo to deal extra high damage to the Chinese units to conserve on its limited manpower reserves. Beware that artillery is rather expensive to produce in the early game given your lack of resources so it is best to first use support artillery (as it requires fewer guns, albeit at the cost of power) and only upgrade to line artillery (which is more powerful but requires more guns) once the player has secured the means to produce artillery reliably.

In addition to the base artillery, once the sufficient industry and resources have been acquired, Manchukuo can further improve on its fighting capabilities by diversifying its arsenal and introducing Anti-Tank Artillery and Anti-Air Artillery to the fray, granting them some means to effectively deal with tanks, trucks and planes which can be a very valuable asset to have when facing Japan in a war of independence. Manchukuo should aim to deploy somewhere around 70-80 units minimum in order to have a chance of facing Japan and Nationalist China.

One National Focus in particular that Manchukuo can take advantage of when preparing to rebel against Japan is Purge the General Affairs Council, as it unlocks a repeatable decision to seize equipment from Japan. Once Manchukuo declares independence from Japan, a certain amount of equipment will be transferred from Japan to Manchukuo and all Japanese divisions will suffer a temporary Resource shortage in Manchuria penalty to attack and defense against Manchukuoan divisions, with the amount of equipment transferred and the duration and severity of the penalty increasing the more times the decision has been taken.

While the player is building up their industry and military they should also keep an eye on what Japan is up to as this strategy relies on waiting for Japan to attack China and then waiting until Japan is firmly into China before betraying them as a well-timed betrayal can potentially allow Manchukuo to fell both countries in one fell swoop. One should ideally wait until Japan has forced China to around 50% surrender progress, as by that point, Japan's forces will be deep in Central China, far away from Manchukuo and betraying them at that point could allow Manchukuo to quickly conquer the Western parts of China before Japan is able to react properly, which could cause many Japanese divisions to end up caught and trapped between the Manchukuoan and Chinese forces and destroyed.

Once the war against Japan begins, Manchukuo should aim to rapidly conquer the Korean Peninsula and secure the coastline of Northern China as Japan is very likely to attempt to use the same strategy against Manchukuo as they would against Nationalist China; i.e. launching Naval Invasions and transferring troops across the South China Sea to open up new fronts. Whenever Manchukuo manages to conquer factories, these should immediately be put to use in expanding and improving the Manchu military to better oppose the Japanese. In addition to manufacturing new equipment to field new divisions, one could also improve their fighting capabilities by improving existing divisions and creating new division templates to improve combat performance and (once resources allow it) the Manchukuoan military can be further enhanced by manufacturing airplanes to field an airforce as achieving air superiority can be a very useful benefit when trying to conquer China as Manchukuo.

It is also worth noting that Manchukuo will remain at war with Nationalist China if they were at war when declaring independence, and therefore will have to defeat them as well. Once Japan has been expelled from the Chinese Mainland, a few months later an event will fire allowing Manchukuo to make peace with Japan, with Japan agreeing to cede all possessions in mainland China to Manchukuo (or any other Chinese nation that triggers the event). Accepting the offer will end the war with Japan, and if Nationalist China hasn't been defeated already, Manchukuo can now focus on taking them down.

Once the Nationalists and Communists have been taken care of, Aisin Gioro Puyi now finds himself ruling over a country divided by warlordism, and in order to restore the Qing Dynasty and reclaim his position as Emperor of China, he must unite China once again by conquering the Warlords (Shanxi, Xibei San Ma, Yunnan and Guangxi Clique, as not only do these Warlords unlawfully occupy Chinese territory and have the ability to steal more of it through border wars, each warlord can also reform itself into a new Nationalist China or Communist China through their National Focus Tree and contest the Qing dynasty's claim to the rulership of all of China.

Luckily, Manchukuo's National Focus tree contains all the necessary tools for uniting China. The National Focuses Reclaim the Empire and Assert Our Authority serve to grant Manchukuo cores on all Chinese states and a wargoal against all Chinese warlords and the later National Focus One China Policy will grant wargoals against all other Chinese nations. Once Manchukuo has successfully gained control of all Chinese states, they can take the National Focus Reclaim the Mandate of Heaven and officially proclaim the restoration of the Qing dynasty, thus restoring Aisin Gioro Puyi's rightful title of Xuantong, Emperor of China.

This section may contain outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version of the game. The last version it was verified as up to date for was 1.4.

Be very careful about the border with China as a sufficient push from there can easily overwhelm the player without proper assistance from Japan. China's enormous manpower pool ensures that, should the player's military be sizable and well-equipped, China can simply outlast the player in a war of attrition.

China set aside, your next biggest threat is the Soviet Union, as they have a National Focus that allows them to go to war with Japan and, knowing AI typical behavior, any Japanese puppet states are almost guaranteed to get dragged in to this conflict and the Soviet Union is infamous for fielding large amounts on units. If Japan hasn't defeated all of its other enemies by this point, both of you will be in serious trouble.

To increase the chances of survival, Manchukuo should invest time and resources into fortifying its borders (both Soviet and Chinese borders) with land forts combined with anti-air emplacements. In order to maximize efficiency, you should build in layers. Queue up level 1 forts in every border province and, once those forts are completed, queue up upgrades to level 2 for every fort, and so on. Do not queue up a batch of level 10 right away as this makes each individual fort very time-consuming to build and slows down the build project. Once you have built up forts, start constructing anti-air emplacements in every state. Forts will be of no use if the Soviets can dismantle them with an endless barrage of bombers.

Manchukuo starts off very weak economically, and it is required that Manchukuo focus on Industry and Electronic research early on alongside the associated National Focuses.